Once upon a time, there were two neighbors living next to each other. One of them was a retired teacher and another was an insurance agent who had a lot of interest in technology. Both of them had planted different plants in their garden. The retired teacher was giving a small amount of water to his plants and didn’t always give a full attention to them, while the other neighbor interested in technology, had given a lot of water to his plants and looked after them too well.

The retired teacher’s plants were simple but looked good. The insurance agent’s plants were much fuller and greener. One day, during the night, there was a heavy rain and a wind due to a minor storm. Next morning, both of the neighbors came out to inspect the damage to their garden. The neighbor who was an insurance agent saw that his plants came off from the roots and were totally destroyed. But, the retired teacher’s plants were not damaged at all and were standing firm.

The insurance agent neighbor was surprised to see it, he went to the retired teacher and asked, “We both grew the same plants together, I actually looked after my plants better than you did for yours, and even gave them more water. Still, my plants came off from the roots, while yours didn’t. How is that possible?”

The retired teacher smiled and said, “You gave your plants more attention and water, but because of that they didn’t need to work themselves for it. You made it easy for them. While I gave them just an adequate amount of water and let their roots search for more. And, because of that, their roots went deeper and that made their position stronger. That is why my plants survived”.

Moral: This story is about parenting where children are like plants. If everything is given to them, they will not understand the hard work it takes to earn those things. They will not learn to work themselves and respect it. Sometimes it’s best to guide them instead of giving them. Teach them how to walk, but let them follow their path.

Earth Hour is an annual event, it holds on the last Saturday in March. The main goal is to raise the awareness of people in saving energy by turning off the unnecessary lights as well as equipment.

Nowadays, scientists prove that our planet is hotter and hotter, most reasons come from human beings, we destroy the forests and pollute the environment. This is a part of the increase in greenhouse gases and climate change. Recently, We can see a lot of erratic weather effects and natural disasters in many places on earth.

That’s why we come here together. With the enthusiasm of youth, we wish to turn ideas into action, want to have a better place for the future.

Initially, we had a group of four (2 girls and 2 boys) from FFL volunteer team. From childhood, all of us had a passion for this event in common. But after a few days of practice, two girls gave up, I don’t know what’s the causes. Anyway, the others still pursue our decision to the main event.

This attracted many students in Hanoi

Most participants were girls

A night to review before the main event.

Yearly, the event takes place in front of Hanoi Opera House.

They used 3 fly cameras to record the word “60+” neon lamps was held in hands by students.

It was also lived stream on VTV1 – Vietnam Television.

Most lights were turned off entire the event.

Our team, The time before performing the flash mob.

Noo Phuoc Thinh, one of the ambassadors of the event, a Vietnamese singer sang a song with his student named: “Let’s save our earth”

See more:

The slogan of this year: “Turn off the unwanted lights, keep the future bright!”.

Because the time of the program was not enough, so our performance was cut. You can see here:

This was the first time I took part in this event. Surprisingly, each time I experienced something new, I got to know a girl and maybe fall for her. It like love at the first sight. Anyway, bye for now.

There was this guy who believed very much in true love and decided to take his time to wait for his right girl to appear. He believed that there would definitely be someone special out there for him, but none came. Every year at Christmas, his ex-girlfriend would return from Vancouver to look him up. He was aware that she still held some hope of re-kindling the past romance with him. He did not wish to mislead her in any way. So he would always get one of his girl friends to pose as his steady whenever she came back. That went on for several years and each year, the guy would get a different girl to pose as his romantic interest.

So whenever the ex-girlfriend came to visit him, she would be led into believing that it was all over between her and the guy. The girl took all those rather well, often trying to casually tease him about his different girlfriends, or so, as it seemed! In fact, the girl often wept in secret whenever she saw him with another girl, but she was too proud to admit it. Still, every Christmas, she returned, hoping to re-kindle some form of romance. But each time, she returned to Vancouver feeling disappointed.

Finally, she decided that she could not play that game any longer. Therefore, she confronted him and professed that after all those years, he was still the only man that she had ever loved. Although the guy knew of her feelings for him, he was still taken back and have never expected her to react that way. He always thought that she would slowly forget about him over time and come to terms that it was all over between them. Although he was touched by her undying love for him and wanted so much to accept her again, he remembered why he rejected her in the first place-she was not the one he wanted. So he hardened his heart and turned her down cruelly. Since then, three years have passed and the girl never returned anymore. They never even wrote to each other. The guy went on with his life… still searching for the one but somehow deep inside him, he missed the girl.

On the Christmas of 1995, he went to his friend’s party alone. “Hey, how come all alone this year? Where are all your girlfriends? What happened to that Vancouver babe who joins you every Christmas?”, asked one of his friends. He felt warm and comforted by his friend’s queries about her still, he just surged on.

Then, he came upon one of his many girlfriends whom he once requested to pose as his steady. He wanted so much to ignore her ….. not that he was impolite, but because at that moment, he just didn’t feel comfortable with those girlfriends anymore. It was almost like he was being judged by them. The girl saw him and shouted across the floor for him. Unable to avoid her, he went up to acknowledge her.

“Hi… how are you? Enjoying the party?” the girl asked.

“Sure… yeah!”, he replied.

She was slightly tipsy… must be from the whiskey on her hand. She continued, “Why? Don’t you need someone to pose as your girlfriend this year?” Then he answered, “No, there is no need for that anymore.”

Before he can continue, he was interrupted, “Oh yes! Must have found a girlfriend! You haven’t been searching for one for the past years, right?” The man looked up as if he has struck gold, his face beamed and looked directly at the drunken girl. He replied, “Yes… you are right! I haven’t been looking for
anyone for the past years.”

With that, the man darted across the floor and out the door, leaving the lady in much bewilderment. He finally realized that he has already found his dream girl, and she was… the Vancouver girl all along! The drunken lady has said something that awoken him.

All along he has found his girl. That was why he did not bother to look further when he realized she was not coming back. It was not any specific girl he was seeking! It was the perfection that he wanted, and yes… perfection! A Relationship is something both parties should work on. Realizing that he had let away someone so important in his life, he decided to call her immediately. His whole mind was flooded with fear. He was afraid that she might have found someone new or no longer had the same feelings anymore… For once, he felt the fear of losing someone.

As it was Christmas eve, the line was quite hard to get through, especially an overseas call. He tried again and again, never giving up. Finally, he got through…. precisely at 1200 midnight. He confessed his love for her and the girl was moved to tears. It seemed that she never got over him! Even after so long, she was still waiting for him, never giving up.

He was so excited to meet her and to begin his new chapter of their lives. He decided to fly to Vancouver to join her. It was the happiest time of their lives! But their happy time was short-lived. Two days before he was supposed to fly to Vancouver, he received a call from her father. She had a head-on car collision with a drunken driver. She passed away after 6 hours in a coma.

The guy was devastated, as it was a complete loss. Why did fate play such cruel games with him? He cursed the heaven for taking her away from him, denying even one last look at her! How cruel he cursed! How he damned the Gods…!! How he hated himself… for taking so long to realize his mistake!! That was in 1996.

Moral: Treasure what you have… Time is too slow for those who wait, Too swift for those who fear, Too long for those who grief, Too short for those who rejoice, But for those who love… Time is Eternity. For all you out there with someone special in your heart, cherish that person, cherish every moment that you spend together that special someone, for in life, anything can happen anytime. You may painfully regret, only to realize that it is too late.

I was walking around in a Big Bazar store doing a shopping, when I saw a Cashier talking to a boy couldn’t have been more than 5 or 6 years old. The Cashier said, “I’m sorry, but you don’t have enough money to buy this doll.” Then the little boy turned to me and asked, “Uncle, are you sure I don’t have enough money?”

I counted his cash and replied, “You know that you don’t have enough money to buy the doll, my dear.” The little boy was still holding the doll in his hand. Finally, I walked toward him and I asked him who he wished to give this doll to. “It’s the doll that my sister loved most and wanted so much . I wanted to Gift her for her Birthday. I have to give the doll to my mommy so that she can give it to my sister when she goes there.” His eyes were so sad while saying this.

“My Sister has gone to be with God. Daddy says that Mommy is going to see God very soon too, so I thought that she could take the doll with her to give it to my sister.” My heart nearly stopped. The little boy looked up at me and said, “I told daddy to tell mommy not to go yet. I need her to wait until I come back from the mall.” Then he showed me a very nice photo of him, where he was laughing. He then told me “I want mommy to take my picture with her so my sister won’t forget me, I love my mommy and I wish she doesn’t have to leave me, but daddy says that she has to go to be with my little sister.”

Then he looked again at the doll with sad eyes, very quietly. I quickly reached for my wallet and said to the boy. “Suppose we check again, just in case you do have enough money for the doll?” He said, “OK, I hope I do have enough.” I added some of my money to his, with out him seeing and we started to count it. There was enough for the doll and even some spare money.

The little boy said, “Thank you God for giving me enough money!” Then he looked at me and added, “I asked last night before I went to sleep for God to make sure I had enough money to buy this doll, so that mommy could give It to my sister. He heard me! I also wanted to have enough money to buy a white rose for my mommy, but I didn’t dare to ask God for too much. But He gave me enough to buy the doll and a white rose. My mommy loves white roses.”

I finished my shopping in a totally different state from when I started. I couldn’t get the little boy out of my mind. Then I remembered a local news paper article two days ago, which mentioned a drunk man in a truck, who hit a car occupied by a young woman and a little girl. The little girl died right away, and the mother was left in a critical state.

The family had to decide whether to pull the plug on the life sustaining machine, because the young woman would not be able to recover from the coma. Was this the family of the little boy? Two days after this encounter with the little boy, I read in the news paper that the young woman had passed away. I couldn’t stop myself. I bought a bunch of white roses and I went to the funeral home where the body of the young woman was exposed for people to see and make last wishes before her burial. She was there, in her coffin, holding a beautiful white rose in her hand with the photo of the little boy and the doll placed over her chest. I left the place, teary-eyed, feeling that my life had been changed for ever…

The love that the little boy had for his mother and his sister is still, to this day, hard to imagine. And in a fraction of a second, a drunk driver had taken all this away from him…

Moral: Respect life, Follow and Obey Rules. Don’t make anyone else to pay and bear for your mistakes. Do not make the mistakes which cost others something that can never be replaced. Always have a giving hand and extend your help to those in need and sorrow.

The site was built to share something what is happening around me (author), I feel there is a need to share experiences with others that inspire me to enjoy more my life. Some posts I do not own rights. If it infringed copyright, please give me your requests by leaving comment under that post. Thanks for visiting. Hope to see you again..